LAHORE: A young attendant of a patient had to be put on ventilator on Saturday after he was severely tortured allegedly by the relatives of a lady doctor at the emergency ward of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here.

Identified as Mohammad Ali (20) of Samanabad, the young man had protested delay in treatment of his seriously-ill grandmother which led to an argument between him and the duty doctor witnesses told the media.

They said as the young man entered into a heated argument with the lady doctor, she called some of her relatives.

They said some eight to ten people reached the hospital’s emergency unit, attacked the young man in the presence of security guards as well as policemen.

The attackers first beat him up with iron rods in the ward and then dragged him to a room where they subjected him to brutal torture despite requests of victim’s female relatives to spare him, the witnesses said.

They said that alarmed by the situation, an attendant of another patient called the police for help.

The attackers, however, fled the scene before the police arrived, leaving the seriously injured victim in a pool of blood.

Ali, who according to doctors, suffered serious head injuries, was later shifted to the surgical emergency of the hospital where the doctors during initial treatment referred him to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Quoting duty doctors, the relatives of the victim told the media that his condition was worsening due to his head injuries and trauma.

The police were investigating.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2019